Daily Archives: July 29, 2019

“The Spanish flu arrived to Alaska in 1918 and devastated the population.,, People thought it had run its course that winter, but when cannery ships arrived in 1919, people were quickly becoming sick, it was evidenced it was influenza, and it devastated not just the Native population, it killed many people who lived here, but it really changed the demographics in this region.” Within weeks of the start of the 1919 fishing season, hundreds of cannery workers and locals were infected with the Spanish flu. The virus wiped out most of the adult population in many villages around Bristol Bay, leaving behind dozens of orphaned children. One of the communities most changed by the outbreak was Naknek. >click to read< 22:05

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A schooner operated by a Portland tour company, and a lobster boat collided near the entrance to Customs House Wharf on Sunday evening, resulting in one arrest for boating under the influence. The lobster boat, Patricia Ann, was being operated by Russell N. Parmenter, 39, a lobster fisherman from Yarmouth. The bowsprit of the schooner, the Timberwind, was damaged. Both were attempting to enter their docking slips, said Maine Marine Patrol officer Alex Hebert. >click to read< 21:41

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After a “really productive and substantive” meeting with new U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in Washington, D.C., on Monday morning, Gov. Charlie Baker said his administration will be working with Vineyard Wind,,, On Monday, Reuters reported that the National Marine Fisheries Service “triggered the delays by declining to sign off on the project’s design, as proposed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management” and that a regional director for the agency “said his agency could not support the environmental permit for Vineyard Wind because the project failed to fully address the concerns of the fishing industry.”,,, Pressed by a reporter as to why he would not say fishing was among the concerns, Baker responded: “Can you read the comments? They’re not that hard to find. Certainly, there were issues that were raised by fishing. There were issues that were raised by a number of other federal agencies as well.” >click to read< 19:44

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Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Katharine Deuel, an officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, said action can’t come soon enough for the dwindling right whale population, but she understands the plight of the fishing industry too.,,, The Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered Right Whales, or SAVE Right Whales Act, was introduced by Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts (supports ropeless gear development),,, Charles “Stormy” Mayo directs the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies. He said he feels for the fishermen,,, >click to read< 16:31

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In April 2018, a rundown World War II-era commercial fishing boat called the Hannah Marie sank in Steamboat Slough. A few weeks later, its owner towed it into the Snohomish River to renovate it for a return trip to Alaska. Since then, the boat hasn’t moved. Last week, the Department of Natural Resources’ derelict vessels removal program gave the boat’s owner a 30-day notice to move it. If he doesn’t get it out of the river by Aug. 14, the state will take custody of the 100-footer and have it removed. In the event he is able to tow the Hannah Marie elsewhere, he’ll keep it. >click to read<

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When making choices, people tend either to go with what they know or try something new. We experience this trade-off every day, whether choosing a route to work or buying breakfast cereal. But does one strategy have an advantage over another? Researchers decided to examine this question by looking at fishing boat captains, who face this choice again and again when deciding where to fish. >click to read< 14:13

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The 66th annual Blessing of the Fleet was held Sunday, July 28 in Stonington Borough to honor and remember those who have died at sea on the last commercial fishing fleet in Connecticut. The event honors and blesses the vessels and their captains, owners, crews and families that will go out to sea in the year ahead. >click to read< 12:41

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The shipping industry is under increased scrutiny after two cargo ships were fined for sailing too fast through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the rising death toll among endangered North Atlantic right whales has been partly blamed on collisions with vessels. There have been eight deaths reported since early June, and examinations of five of the carcasses showed three of them had injuries consistent with ship strikes, a leading cause of death for these rare mammals. 227 vessels exceeded speed limit in 3 months >click to read< 11:23

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First, it’s important to get it straight. She’s not called a ‘lobsterwoman’ if the person lobster fishing is female; the correct term, no matter what the gender is lobsterman. Susan Tobey White’s latest series, “Lobstering Women of Maine” is all about the women who haul traps, bait bags, stern and lobster fish off their own boats. The exhibit is currently hanging at Penobscot Marine Museum until October 2019. At least 300 people showed for her artist’s reception on July 14 and among those in the crowd were several of the women she did the portraits of. “I think most of the people who showed up at the reception were in awe. They had no idea that women even did this line of work,” said White. >click to read< 10:32

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Scientists from the U.S. and Canada have returned from a North Atlantic right whale survey trip in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence where they found dense reserves of zooplankton that have drawn 70 or more of the critically endangered marine mammals to the region this summer. They now expect the right whales to move farther north in the coming summers to follow the movement of the food they consume,,, Many of the right whales that visit Cape Cod Bay and south of the islands in the late winter and early spring migrate northward as they follow the movement of zooplankton, especially a rice-sized copepod called calanus. >click to read< 09:58

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Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Inc (AGR.N), was scheduled to begin,,, Documents seen by Reuters, which have not previously been made public, show the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) triggered the delays by declining to sign off on the project’s design, as proposed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the lead agency on offshore wind projects.,,, In an April 16 letter to BOEM, Michael Pentony, regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries’ Greater Atlantic office, said his agency could not support the environmental permit for Vineyard Wind because the project failed to fully address the concerns of the fishing industry.,,, >click to read< 08:26

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

On Thursday, the freshman Democrat from the Massachusetts 6th Congressional District announced he and two other New England representatives (Reps. William Keating, D-Mass., and Congressman Stephen Read More »